


Since when did Steve Harrington, former king of the school, have kids???

by the_trash_can_is_my_home



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canon Divergent, Canon Lesbian Character, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Insecurity, It is pure fluff, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Robin, Light Angst, Mike Wheeler Is a Little Shit, Multi, Platonic Relationships, ROBIN HAS A LAST NAME NOW HA I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS, Rated T for language, Robin is confused, Sad Will Byers, Scoops Ahoy, Will Byers Needs a Hug, also steve is such a mom, because I said so, but also slightly canon divergent, for now..., i swear it's not bad, it has become more, only slightly tho, probably slightly ooc, she's so confused, since when did steve harrington have kids???, steve and robin is the power duo we didn't know we needed, steve calls robin rob, that's a tag and i'm not sure i'm okay with that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-06-25 06:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19739761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_trash_can_is_my_home/pseuds/the_trash_can_is_my_home
Summary: At least not everything about Steve had changed, he was still stupid and a horrible flirt, so that made it easier for Robin to get her head around everything. Robin thought that after a week of working with Steve, he would stop surprising her. But, alas, she was wrong.OrA series of events where the stranger things kids come into scoops ahoy to see steve and robin being more befuddled each time.





	1. Max and Lucas

**Author's Note:**

> Max and Lucas come into Scoops Ahoy with a problem and Steve solves it like the absolute mom(TM) he is. Robin is confused but she'll be damned if anyone sees that.

Robin wasn’t going to lie. When she came to work at Scoops Ahoy, she was just expecting just to earn some money. She wasn’t expecting to be put on the shift as the douchebag that was Steve Harrington and she definitely wasn’t expecting for him to actually not be a douchebag. Like sure, he was an idiot, a dingus, and just all-around stupid but he wasn’t the complete asshole he had been in school. At least not everything about him had changed, he was still stupid and a horrible flirt, so that made it easier for Robin to get her head around everything. Robin thought that after a week of working with Steve, he would stop surprising her. But, alas, she was wrong.

It was a completely normal day. Steve had flirted with about three different girls and failed miserably, Robin was bored out of her mind and contemplating new ways to tease Steve since she had nothing better to do. She could use one of those whiteboards they sometimes use for scoring and score every time that he failed miserably… maybe she’d do that once it was her turn to take a break in the backroom behind the glass.

Robin was drawn out of her thoughts as two kids walked in arguing. One was a boy with dark skin and wearing a colourful tank top, the other was a girl that had bright red hair just past her shoulders and freckles dotting her face, wearing a striped t-shirt tucked into denim shorts. They walked up to the counter and Robin groaned internally and put on an obviously fake smile before turning to address them.

“Hi, welcome to Scoops Ahoy, how may I help you?” Despite the cheesy smile on her face, Robin could hear her voice come out bored and unenthusiastic. Yeah, she should probably work on that unless she wanted to be fired.

“Is Steve here?” The girl said, craning her neck so to look behind Robin.

“Why?” Robin said, leaning down and folding her arms over the counter giving the both of them her signature bored but also intimidating stare.

“Can you just get him, please?” Robin was confused but she’d be damned if these two strange kids saw that, so instead she turned around and walked into the back room where Steve was taking a break. He was sitting on one of the seats with his feet propped up on top of the white table. He had a book, Robin’s book she noted, in his hands.

“Hey, dingus, I didn’t think you could read.” Steve’s head snapped up and he closed the book placing it on the table next to his feet.

“Oh, hardy ha ha,” Steve said sarcastically. “What’s up? I didn’t think my break was over yet.”

“It’s not, idiot, but there are two kids out there inquiring after you.” She pointed her thumb back over her shoulder and Steve groaned and stood up, looking Robin straight in the eye.

“Which ones?” It took all of Robin’s self-control for her jaw not to drop. Why was he so... unsurprised.

“I don’t know, the girl had red hair and the boy had dark skin?” Robin framed the statement as a question. Steve groaned again but it seemed good natured.

“Come on, Rob, we’re going back out there,” Steve said, walking to the door and beckoning for her to follow.

“Why can’t I stay in here and have my break if you’re going out there?” Robin said, folding her arms.

“Because A) I’m not going out to scoop ice cream, you still need to do that and B) I need moral support,” Steve said, his mouth moving into a slight pout. Robin sighed, a little dramatically, and pushed passed her coworker back out to the counter. The two kids were still there, but they perked up a bit when Robin emerged.

“Is he coming?”

“Yeah,” she raised her voice. “HE’S COMING!” Steve emerged from the back room and looked dirtily at Robin.

“No need to shout, Robin,” he said moving around to the wall near to the counter and gesturing to the two kids to join him over there. “Max, Lucas, what’s up?”

“We came to get your opinion on something,” the girl, Max, Robin supposed, said. Robin couldn’t help but snort and Steve gave her a glare. She shrugged. Sue her if she thought that Steve wasn't the person to come to for opinions.

“Why don’t you go serve the ice cream, Robin,” he said and Robin looked around the ice cream parlour, knowing full well that it was almost empty apart from a couple of groups she had already served.

“I don’t see any customers, do you, Steve?” Steve glared at her again and Robin just smirked and leaned up against the counter and waved her hand to signal that the two kids to continue.

“Okay, so,” Max started again. “Lucas is being a complete idiot and thinks that he could skateboard better than me-”

“That’s not what I said!” Lucas interrupted looking, much to Robin’s amusement, completely scandalised.

“Oh yeah? What did you say then?”

“I said- I said that I could definitely get on your level if I  _ could _ skateboard!” Max looked unimpressed.

“Right,” she said before turning back to Steve. “Anyway, I said that if he _thought_ he could do so good, why not have a competition? Makes perfect sense right?”

“No!” Said Lucas, looking at Max like she was crazy. “You’re forgetting that what I said was purely hypothetical!”

“It didn’t sound hypothetical to me! It sounded like you were challenging your girlfriend because you felt insecure that she was better than you!”

“Ohhh,” Robin said, putting her hand over her mouth in a mock gasp. Both of them turned around and looked at her and she shrugged again. As soon as they turned around she snickered into her hand, this was just too good.

“So we came here to get your opinion on whether or not Lucas is an absolute idiot!” Max gave Lucas a scathing look and he returned it with a glare.

“What she means is that we came here to ask whether you think this competition is  _ necessary. _ ” He shot another look at Max. Robin sniggered again, small humans were so stupid. She looked at Steve and was shocked to see that he was actually listening very seriously to Max and Lucas’s dilemma.

“So let me get this straight,” he said, resting his chin on his fist. “Lucas said that, hypothetically-”

“It wasn’t hypothetical it was-”

“Ah, ah ah!” Steve said, waving his hand at Max. “Don’t interrupt me. He said that if he was able to skateboard, he’d be as good as you. Correct?” He looked at the two kids expectantly and they nodded. “Right. So then, you,” he pointed at Max, “challenged him,” he pointed at Lucas, “to a skateboard contest. Have I got this right?”

“Yes,” they both mumbled.

“Okay. So then, Lucas, you didn’t want to do this challenge because it was hypothetical, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you,” he turned to Max, “thought that he was, what? Backing out?”

“Yeah,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Okay. Glad we got that out there. Now. Can both of you tell me what logical reason you have to be mad at each other.” Max started almost immediately.

“He made a deal and then he backed out!”

“But, Max, sweetie, did he actually make the deal?” Sweetie? Ok, now Robin was even more confused, what was Steve’s relation to these kids? Max blushed and looked at the floor.

“No, I guess not.”

“Right, and Lucas?”

“Well, she- uh-”

“I see,” said Steve. “So, do you actually have a reason to be mad at each other?”

“No,” they muttered.

“Okay!” Steve smiled at the two of them. “So how about you kiss and make up and I’ll get you discount ice cream.” The two kids looked at each other and seemed to have a mutual agreement that forgiving each other was worth it if it meant ice cream. Max nodded at him and the two of them followed Steve to the counter where Robin was standing.

“Robin, you can take your break now, I’m good,” Steve said to her before turning to the two kids and questioning them on what they wanted. Robin nodded and walked back into the back room, collapsing on one of the seats.

_ What. The. Fuck. _ _ _


	2. Will

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My poor insecure son is lonely because his best friends are ignoring him in favour of their boyfriends/girlfriends. Steve is a great mom and Robin is the best aunt ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so... i wasn't going to post this tonight... but consider this... i am a sucker for compliments (i got nice comments please keep doing that it makes me cry from happiness) and there's not enough Robin & Will stuff in this fandom yet. so i churned this out listening to my 15+ hour long musical playlist so it could either be shit or reasonably alright
> 
> ALSO, WILL BYERS IS HERE AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS? INSECURITY!!!

Robin had confronted Steve about the two kids, Max and Lucas, of course she had. Two kids had walked in, confronted her coworker with a problem upon which he had, for lack of a better word, mothered them. Then he had got them discounted ice cream and sent them on their merry way. It was no wonder she was curious.

However, despite all the asking, she hadn’t been able to get a straight answer out of him. From what she knew, they weren’t blood relations or relations of any kind and honestly, that was all she knew apart from the fact that Steve was obviously close with them. Steve, former King of Hawkins High, was close with a bunch of obviously nerdy 8th graders. It didn’t make any sense. Robin shook her head and went back to focusing on the ice cream she was scooping.

“Have a nice day,” she said unenthusiastically, handing the two girls in front of her their ice cream and sighed in relief. She could see Steve pump up a tired fist in the air from the corner of her eye. Those two girls were at the end of the enormous queue of people who for some reason all wanted ice cream today. That long queue had caused Steve and herself to both serve customers at the same time so to manage it. That hardly ever happened.

“We did it, Rob! We vanquished the long queue of death.”

“Of death? Pretty dramatic, Harrington.”

“Yeah, well I think I’m allowed to be a bit dramatic after the pain we just endured.” Steve took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, you weren’t flirting for once. Seems like a blessing to me,” she said.

“Aw, are you jealous, Rob?” He said batting his eyes and Robin burst out laughing at the preposterousness of the statement. Oh, if only he knew… 

“In your dreams, dingus.” She said, still laughing slightly, she then sighed. “I think I need to sit down.” She looked around them before walking back to the glass screen separating the shop and the back room. Robin looked at the bench for a second before placing her hands and hoisting herself up onto it.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m sitting.” Steve looked like he was about to reply but footsteps from the front of the store caused both their heads to snap in that direction. There was a kid walking towards the counter looking, Robin didn’t want to say crushed but he didn’t look far from it. She looked at Steve, whose brow had creased. The kid looked familiar but Robin couldn’t quite place it.

“Hey, Byers!” He said enthusiastically but Robin could hear the worry in his voice. Robin blinked in realisation.  _ Oh, it was that kid who disappeared in the woods a year or two ago. _ “What’s up, buddy?” Robin looked from Steve to the kid and back to Steve.

“How many kids do you have?” She said in what she hoped was an unimpressed voice. Steve turned around and gave her a look making small gestures back to the kid which looked like ‘look at this kid, he’s in trouble, can you not?’. But then it could have also been: ‘Robin, why are you like this? I can have as many kids as I please, thank you very much’ so Robin just did the thing any smart person would do and shut her mouth.

“Can I talk to you, Steve?” He looked around at the reasonably large amount of people milling around in the booths. “In a more private environment?” The kid’s voice was soft and unsure, as if he was expecting to be refused and Robin wanted to wrap the kid up in a hug. Which was saying something considering that Robin wasn’t a huge fan of physical contact or emotions in general. In fact, saying she wasn’t a fan of emotions was an understatement. But this kid just screamed “hug me” and if she hadn’t spent years denying and hiding her emotions for her own safety she’d probably wrapped her arms around him right there and then. Steve looked at Robin again, almost imploringly.

“James and Stephanie will be here in about five minutes to relieve us, then we could use the back room,” she said, looking at Steve who nodded, satisfied. Then she turned to the kid. “You reckon you can wait that long, kid? You can sit in that booth over there and we’ll get you some ice cream.” The kid smiled gratefully at her and nodded slightly, making his way over to the booth.

“What’s with you, Rob? You’re never that nice to me,” Steve nudged her side. 

“Yeah, because you’re a dingus and he’s a tiny kid, now serve him up some goddamn ice cream. He looks like he could use it.” She shoved him over in front of the tubs of ice cream.

“He’s fourteen,” Robin heard him mutter under his breath but she could see the soft smile on his face.

* * *

“Hey, Robin!” Stephanie walked into the parlour wearing the stupid Scoops Ahoy uniform and a bag slung over her shoulder. Somehow, she made it work. “James should be here in a minute, he’s just talking to someone.”

“Thanks, Stephanie you’re a lifesaver. Steve and I are just going to be in the back room for a bit if that’s alright.”

“Yeah, that’s all good,” Stephanie said in suggestive voice and Robin internally facepalmed. It was these moments where she wished that society was more advanced. It was about 100 times more likely that Robin would fall for Stephanie than hook up with Steve. In fact, she actually  _ had _ had a crush on Stephanie for a little bit. Those were an awkward couple of weeks and she was honestly surprised that no one had picked up on it.

“Dingus!” She called out to her coworker. “Get your ass up, Stephanie’s here.” Once she heard Steve call back an answer she walked into the back room, grimacing as Stephanie winked at her. She sat herself down on the counter right near the glass screen and a couple of seconds later, Steve and the kid made their way in.

“Hey, Will you can sit there, okay?” Steve said, ushering the kid down onto one of the seats. “Is it okay if Robin sits in with us?” The kid, Will, dipped his head slightly in conformation and the corners of Robin’s mouth twitched upward. “Alright, what’s up kid?” Steve said, sitting down on the other chair.

“I’m sorry!” Will blurted out. “I didn’t want to bother you and I would’ve gone to Jonathan but he’s been so busy with his job and stuff and I couldn’t talk to him.” Robin quirked an eyebrow at Steve, hopefully conveying the question 'Jonathan?'

“His brother,” Steve mouthed back.  _ Oh. _ She nodded back in understanding. Steve turned back to the kid.

“Hey Will, it’s okay. Rob and I don’t mind. Now, do you want to tell us what’s up?” Will stayed silent for a little bit and Robin and Steve waited patiently for the kid to collect his thoughts.

“It just sucks,” he eventually said and Steve laughed lightly, not unkindly.

“Care to elaborate?”

“Mike and Lucas and their stupid girlfriends,” Will said and then seemed to realise what he’d said and covered his mouth, blushing fiercely. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I really like El and Max, I really do and El has done more for me than almost everyone else and-”

“Woah, kid, calm down,” Robin said, jumping down off the bench and making her way over to him. She kneeled down in front of him. “We’re not judging you.”

“No? I’d probably judge me if I just called my best friends’ girlfriends stupid," he mumbled, keeping his eyes trained on the ground.

“Yeah, well I’m sure you have a good reason for doing that, huh?” Robin said, urging Will to go on.

“Not really. It’s just-” He broke off and took a deep breath. “Ever since Lucas and Mike started dating them, they stopped wanting to hang out with me. It’s like I don’t even exist anymore and Max and El are all that matters.” His voice broke and Robin’s heart ached for him because even though she had never been in the exact same position, she understood. Will continued. “And then when we hang out, all they want to talk about is their girlfriends and when I try to say or do anything they just look at me like I don’t understand. Usually, it would be a bit better because Dustin’s there but he’s been away so it’s just Mike, Lucas, Max, El, and I- and I’m just constantly… third wheeling. Or fifth wheeling, I suppose. I just feel so out of place.”

“Hey, I get it,” Robin said, smiling sadly at the boy in front of her. “That happened to me too. All my friends were obsessed with getting a boyfriend or obsessing over their current boyfriends and I didn’t even want one.”  _ I was too busy pining over stupid Tammy Thompson. _ “And I couldn’t understand their obsession with boys. I still don’t sometimes.” Robin laughed bitterly and looked at Will and smiled at him. The smile he gave her back was almost blinding.

“Thanks, Robin. It’s really nice to know I’m not alone, you know?”

“Believe me kid, I know.” There was a sniffle from beside them and Robin turned to see a teary Steve Harrington wiping his eyes.

“That was beautiful,” he said and Robin punched his shoulder.

“Alright, dingus that’s enough and hey Will. If you’re ever feeling like this again, you know where to find me. This hell hole.” Will gave a slightly watery laugh and nodded. “Alright. How ‘bout we go hang around the mall together while Steve and I are on a break.”

“You wouldn’t mind me tagging along?”

“Of course we don’t, do we Steve?” Robin gave Steve a death glare.

“No, of course not! Jesus, Robin no need to give me that look.”

“Okay!” Will said, not unhappily. That's a start. “Let’s go then!” And with that, he stood up and walked out of the back room. Steve stood up and turned to Robin.

“I can’t believe you stole one of my children,” he said.

“Oh relax, drama queen, he’s still yours.” Steve looked so satisfied that Robin couldn’t help stage whispering under her breath. “For now.” Before turning away from him and skipping after Will.

“I heard that, Robin!” Steve called after her, before sighing audibly and muttering something about child thieving. Robin didn’t mind. Hanging out with Steve Harrington and Will Byers, as weird as her past self would have thought it, was one of the best things she had ever done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what can i say i'm a sucker for Robin being an awesome gay aunt to Will. please comment, kudos, etc. :,)


	3. Mike

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feat. Mike Wheeler being Mike, Will being an absolute pure baby because I love him, Steve being a stern mom, and Robin being overprotective.  
> Also just some context:  
> \- Will has been over to see Robin and Steve a couple more times since the last chapter.  
> \- I swear, I'm not trying to be too hard on Mike, I do love him. He was just... a bit of an asshole at the start of this season...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk what to say man i fell asleep writing this at 3am and finished it after four hours of sleep. no i have not gone over and re-read it. yes i know it's prolly not great. but you know what. oh well.

Selling had been slow, so Robin was sitting on the bench near the ice cream tubs eating her well deserved ‘samples’ when she saw an unfamiliar kid standing outside the parlour talking to a kid with a bowl cut that was well-known to her by now. Robin looked at Will and the other kid from the corner of her eye and strained her ears, decidedly  _ not _ trying to listen in on their conversation

“I dunno, Mike.”

“Come on, Will! It will be fine, all we have to do is ask!” The other boy replied looking pleadingly at his friend. Robin could see Will’s resolve crack and break.

“I just don’t want to be a bother, Mike,” Will said, focusing his eyes on the ground. The other boy, Mike (?), put a hand on his shoulder and Robin could have sworn she saw Will blush. That was interesting.

“Hey, we’re not going to be a bother,” Mike said. “Besides, Steve loves us!” The kid threw his hands up in the air and Will smiled hesitantly.

“I think he likes me more.” At that, Mike let out an offended gasp, before laughing.

“So does that mean you’re in?” He asked.

“Yeah, alright.” Will rubbed the back of his neck. “Let’s do it.”

At those words of confirmation, Robin turned around and threw open the glass screen to reveal Steve laying on the floor of the break room doing, seemingly, nothing.

“Hey dingus,” Robin said, drawing Steve’s attention. “What the fuck are you doing?” Steve sat up and looked her in the eye before laying back down. “Okay, then. I was just coming to give you a head’s up that Will and his friend Mike are about to come in here.” Steve let out a huge sigh towards the ceiling.

“Alright, thanks, Rob.” Robin closed the screen and went back to where she was, to meet the two boys at the counter.

“Hey, Will, how are you?” She greeted the boy, pointedly ignoring the dark haired boy next to him. She recalled that this ‘Mike’ had made her young friend feel left out and insecure and if there was one thing Robin could do well, it was hold a grudge.

“Hi, Rob! I’m good thanks.” Will said, giving her a bright smile. “Oh, Robin, this is Mike. Mike, this is Robin. She works with Steve.”

“Right! Nice to meet you.” Mike gave her a hesitant grin but Robin just gave him a pointed look before turning back to Will. 

“Anything you came in for?” Robin asked Will, not unkindly. It was pretty hard to be unkind to Will.

“Uhh...” Will hesitated.

“We came to talk to Steve about something.” Mike jumped in and Robin gave him another dirty look.

“He’s in the back,” she said to Will. “You can go straight back there.”

“Cool!” Will grinned at her before turning to Mike. “Come on Mike let’s go.” They both walked behind the counter and Robin stopped Will with the palm of her hand.

“You go on, I want to talk to Will for a sec.” Mike looked unsure but Will gave him a comforting smile and nodded to him. “You go on.” As soon as Mike had left Robin looked down at Will.

“Is that Mike?” Will rolled his eyes before looking pleadingly at Robin.

“Yes, that’s Mike and please don’t be too hard on him. He’s getting better, I swear.” Robin narrowed her eyes at him, not quite believing what the younger boy was telling her.

“Are you sure?” Will blushed and looked at the ground, almost guiltily. So, he was lying. Robin tilted her head to the ceiling and sighed. 

“Robin, can you please just go easy on him?” Will looked at her beseechingly and well damn. Robin couldn’t refuse that face. 

“Okay. I will.” Robin exhaled heavily before pointing a finger at Will. “But I don’t have to like it.” Will shot her a relieved grin and Robin was about to smile back when a shout came from the back room.

“YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?!”

“What the hell did you ask him to do for him to have an outburst like that?” Robin said, a curious grin making its way onto her face. Will smiled sheepishly back.

“I should probably-” he gestured backwards before walking quickly through the door. Robin, the combination of curiosity and boredom getting the better of her, followed him and boy was she glad she did because the sight that was in front of her was hilarious.

Steve was no longer lying on the floor but standing up and looking incredulously at Mike. Mike, surprisingly, was standing his ground and looking Steve straight in the eye. The two of them barely noticed Robin and Will come through the door.

“You want me to...” Steve trailed off and shook his hand. “No.”

“But Steve!” Mike whined.

“No buts! I swear to god, Mike, you were always the craziest of the lot.”

“Okay, that’s a bit harsh but this isn’t even that bad and you know it!”

“Yeah, it isn’t as bad as the other crazy shit you’ve decided to do but that doesn’t mean it isn’t crazy shit!” Steve’s voice seemed to crescendo, getting higher and louder with every word. Robin snickered. 

“Please, Steve?” Will stepped forward and Steve’s head snapped to him.

“Oh, don’t you start, Byers. I know this was Mike’s idea, you don’t have to- stop it.” Robin was this close to losing it. Will was pulling puppy dog eyes.

“What do they even want?” Robin asked through choked laughter.

“They want,” Steve said, shaking his fist at the two boys, “for me to sneak them into the goddamn movie theatre to see some weird ass film. What was it called? Off To The Future?” Both boys made noises of protest.

“Okay, one it seems like a really good film or we wouldn’t be in here asking you to sneak us in, two you didn’t give any context as to why we  _ need _ to be sneaked in, and three it’s  _ Back _ To The Future,” Mike said, in the most bored voice Robin had ever heard come out of someone’s else's mouth. Robin could feel the corners of her mouth twitch but she pointedly ignored them.

“Care to give me context, then?” Robin said, looking Mike straight in the eye. Hey, at least she wasn't being as hostile before.

“Well, you see, Robin,” Mike started, he seemed slightly relieved at her change in demeanour. “We are poor children who unfortunately do not have jobs and therefore have no money. We are very poor and this movie is right up our alleyway so it would be an absolute  _ tragedy _ if we were unable to see it.” Will nodded seriously along with him.

“Don’t let them fool you, Rob,” Steve said, pointing a finger at Mike. “This one’s a troublemaker.”

“Well, I’m sorry, dingus but I can’t help you with them.” She put her hands up. “They’re your kids, not mine.” Steve gave her a look of betrayal as she walked over to the bench and lifted herself up onto it. 

“Well, since it’s my decision,” Steve said looking at the two kids in front of him. “I say-” he hesitated slightly. “No.”

“Steve, please?” Will said in the smallest, most pitiful voice. Steve pointed a finger at him.

“I know that’s a ruse, Byers. Don’t even try it.” Will let out a soft whimper and Robin sniggered, she could see Steve slowly breaking. They all waited in silence for a few minutes. Steve groaned running both his hands through his hair.

“Oh my god, fine!” Both boys cheered and thanked him. “Yeah, yeah, I’m a complete angel.” Robin snorted, she knew this was coming but it was still amazing to watch. Steve turned to her. “You shut up, you were no help.” Robin shrugged at him, she felt no guilt whatsoever. Steve sighed and turned back to the boys, leading them through the back door into the corridor. A few minutes later, he came back and collapsed back onto the floor, groaning.

“These kids are going to be the  _ fucking death _ of me.” 

Robin jumped off the bench and knelt down beside him. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have adopted them.” As Robin stood up to make her way back to the parlour, Steve flipped her off and rolled over so he was face down on the floor. Robin laughed and walked back through the door. If she wanted to keep her job she really shouldn’t leave the counter unattended for long periods of time and there was one thing for certain. As long as Steve Harrington worked here, and his child friends kept coming in and annoying him. However weird it was and however confused it made her. She wanted to keep this job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> every time i write the word straight my sleep deprived brain laughs mockingly at me...  
> you know the drill pls comment and kudos, it fuels my motivation to write. ily guys thanks for reading <3


	4. An Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feat. All the kids minus Dustin and El  
> Jonathan dropped all of them off at the mall but he can’t pick them up because of work so they have to get Steve to take them home.
> 
> Oh by the way, did I mention Robin is kind of spiteful?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jUST GOT WORD THAT OUR BUDDIES IS HURTIN FACIN TOTAL DISASTER FOR CERTAIN THAT'S OUR CUE BOYS IT'S TIME TO GO SLUMMIN HEY MANHATTAN THE CALVARY'S COMING-
> 
> shut up musicals help me concentrate to some extent. ALSO, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR WONDERFUL COMMENTS THEY REALLY MEAN THE WORLD TO ME AND I'M GLAD THAT SO MANY OF YOU LIKE THIS FIC

It had been almost a week and a half since Mike came and asked, read: forced, Steve to sneak him and Will into the cinema and Robin hadn’t seen many of the kids since then. When she did see them it was only briefly when they came in to say a quick greeting or to get ice cream. Robin hated to admit but she actually missed these weird kids’ and their weird antics. There was one thing for certain though, Robin didn’t miss them as much as Steve. Currently, he was leaning up against the bench closest to the back room and, for lack of better expression, wallowing in his own pity.

“Robin? Do you think they hate me?”

“Oh my god, Steve,” Robin said, handing the cute girl in front of her chocolate ice cream. “Have a nice day. They don’t hate you!”

“Are you sure? Because they’re never around any more.” She could practically hear his pout.

“Hello, what would you like today?” Robin asked the next customer only half listening to their order. “They’re probably just busy.” Robin sighed for what felt the hundredth time that day as she scooped ice cream for the man in front of her.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Jesus- there you go, have a nice day- Christ, Steve, you don’t sound convinced- what would you like, ma’am?”

“Because I’m not! Maybe I’m just too old for them.”

“Steve. You are literally only five years older than them- thank you, ma’am, have a nice day.” God, serving and talking sense into Steve was difficult. She rubbed her temples. If the kids didn’t come in and talk to Steve properly soon she swore, she would hunt them down and murder them because Steve’s constant worrying was really getting on her nerves.

“Could we please get two sundaes,” said the tiny girl in front of her. Robin had to stop herself from laughing at the way her friends crowded her and how the whole group almost weren’t high enough to reach the counter.

“Sure thing, take a seat and we’ll bring them over when they’re ready.” The group of tiny children wandered over to one of the booths, laughing and chatting.

“You hear that, Steve? I need two sundaes, stat.” Steve grumbled and pushed himself off the bench and pulled out his ice cream scooper, absentmindedly spinning it.

“You’re really bossy, you know that?” Robin pulled out her bored and intimidating stare and Steve put his hands up in the universal symbol for ‘i surrender, sorry’ and Robin sighed again.

“Just make the damn sundaes, Harrington.” Steve started to busy himself with the ice cream and Robin let out a deep breath. How this dingus ever ended up becoming a babysitter to four children was completely beyond her. Honestly. There was a comfortable silence between them as Robin served the customers at the counter while Steve readied the sundaes.

“I’m going to serve these to the table, Rob, be back in a sec.”

“You don’t have to tell me dingus,” she said but nodded all the same.

“Yeah alright, alright,” said Steve, walking towards the group of girls. As he did this, a familiar group of rowdy kids walked through the entrance of Scoops Ahoy and walked straight up to the counter, much to the aversion of the remaining people in the queue.

“Hi, Robin.” Will smiled at her and Robin smiled back, a little maliciously.

“Hello, my young friend,” Robin said. These kids had caused her the pain that was Steve Harrington this past week and they were going to get what was coming to them. “Why, pray tell, did you skip this line of probably very hungry customers?”

“Well, we- ah- um,” Will faltered. As much as she loved this kid, he deserved it.

“We needed to talk to, Steve!” Max jumped in and the rest of them nodded at her words.

“Oh did you,” Robin said in a mocking voice, leaning down and resting her elbows on the counter. “Well I’m very sorry but talking is a service that my coworker and I generously provide, so in order to talk,” she raised herself to her full height and smiled condescendingly down at them, “you need to join the queue.”

“Aw, come on, Robin. Please?” Will pouted.

“Nah-uh, Will, those eyes might work on Steve but they don’t on me. Now, scram.” They all groaned before walking down to the end of the queue, a couple of them (all of them except Will) sending dirty looks over their shoulder. Robin smiled with satisfaction, did it feel good to put those kids in their place.

“Now, I’m sorry about that, sir, what would you like?” 

She was scooping strawberry ice cream for the next customer when a voice came from over her shoulder.

“Was that Max, Lucas, Mike, and Will I just saw?” Oh, she’d forgotten about Steve. Oh well, he’d waited this long, he could wait a couple more minutes to talk to his children.

“Yeah,” she said, not looking up from the ice cream. “They wanted to talk so I sent them to the end of the line.” She couldn’t help but grin at that and Steve waved his scooper at her.

“You,” he said. “Are evil.” Robin couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, shove off,” she said through laughter. “You know they deserved it. Have a nice day, sir.” Was that the first time she had said that well-used phrase smiling? Damn.

“Pretty sure they didn’t but okay,” Steve said, he looked pleased with himself for making Robin laugh so much. “Can I help you?”

“And make the wait for them shorter? No way.” Those kids were not getting off the hook that easy. “You only get to help if something like a sundae is requested.” Steve exhaled but nodded, then sat cross-legged on the floor.

“Steve,” she said, taking the ten dollar bill from the customer. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting.”

“I can see that dingus, why?”

“Because I know you’re going to drag this out and I didn’t want to stand up for that long.” Robin shrugged and turned back to the ice cream. He wasn’t wrong. 

About five minutes later, the kids were finally at the counter and Robin smiled at them. “Hello, what can I do for you today?” She said. Was she enjoying this too much? Probably. Did she care? No.

“Can we  _ please _ talk to Steve,” Lucas said.

“Why of course you can.” She turned back to Steve who was still sitting on the floor, evidently waiting for her cue. A smart man. “Dingus, your children want to speak with you.” Steve immediately stood up and brushed off his uniform.

“Hey guys,” he said cheerily. “What’s up?”

They all looked at each other, slightly nervously.

“Well, you see...” Lucas started but trailed off.

“Would you be able to take us home?” Mike interrupted. “Jonathan and Nancy dropped us off at the mall this morning but they can’t pick us up because they’ve got an important story or something.” He made a face but then brightened up. “Oh, and we’d like some ice cream too.” 

“You hear that, dingus. They want you to take them home.” Steve was silent so Robin turned to the kids and continued. “Well, I can help with the ice cream. What do you guys want?” And Robin stored their answers in her head, it was always good to know someone’s regular or favourite order. It saved a lot of time and energy.

“I’ll have vanilla, please.” Mike.

“Chocolate fudge, please.” Lucas.

“Mint choc for me.” Max.

“Will? You want hazelnut?” She said, sending a smile at her friend which he returned, nodding. 

“Yes, please. Thank you, Rob.”

When she had gotten all their ice cream which they were all eating gratefully, Robin turned back to Steve who was grinning stupidly to himself.

“Got an answer yet, dingus?”

“Robin,” he said lowly, so they wouldn’t hear. “They’re asking me to take them home, they wouldn’t do that if they didn’t like me, right?”

“Oh my god, you are such an idiot,” Robin said, resisting the urge to facepalm. “How many times do I have to say it for you to get it through your thick head that they. Like. You.” Steve smiled stupidly and Robin sighed into her hand. “Jesus Christ.”

“You think you can hold down the fort while I take ‘em home?”

“Yes, of course I can dumbass.” She said, ushering him out from behind the counter.

“Thanks, Rob! Alright, kids, time to go!” He said, leading them out. Robin wheezed out a laugh, it looked like a mother duck leading her ducklings. The last sight Robin saw before they were out of sight was Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkin’s High, leading a pack of 8th graders through the mall. Telling them loudly that they better finish their ice cream because he refuses to have to clean melted ice cream out of his car again, not caring about the strange looks they were getting from the public. Someone rang the bell in front of her and Robin sighed. Time to get back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know the drill by now, comment, kudos, either will make my day :)


	5. Dustin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty much canon but from Robin's point of view. I made a couple of changes and added a couple of things though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to dedicate this chapter to chocolate chips and tea because without those two (way more than two) handfuls of chocolate chips and those two pots of tea that i drank, i would not have been able to write this chapter.

Today had not been a good day. Robin was bored out of her mind and serving ice cream like a fucking robot, she didn’t even attempt to make conversation with anyone, sticking purely to the phrases programmed into her mind. Along with this, she had a killer headache that just wouldn’t go away. God, she couldn’t wait for her break. Then Steve would come out here, probably try and get a date with someone, fail miserably, and Robin would be able to add another tally mark to the scoreboard. The scoreboard had been a stroke of genius on her part. She had the basic idea for a while but putting the idea into action was satisfying as hell, not mention that Steve’s face had been priceless when she made the first tally mark. 

“Have a nice day,” she said, handing an ice cream each to the two guys in front of her. “What can I get you today? One scoop of raspberry swirl, that will be two dollars fifty, thank you, have a nice day.” And so it droned on… and on… and on… this was actually going to kill her.

“One hazelnut, and one vanilla with sprinkles. Have a nice day.”

“Thank you,” said the girl in front of her cheerfully, following her friend, boyfriend, whatever out. Too cheerfully. Robin sighed and shook her head, preparing herself for the next customer. A young boy came up to the counter smiling way too wide. Robin wanted to punch him right then and there, he was too happy.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” The voice that came out was bored and done with this shit. Good. She couldn’t care less.

“I’m Dustin,” the boy said, gesturing to himself with his hand. Right. Was that supposed to mean something to her or…

“I’m Robin,” she said, dragging out her words.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Was it? Was it really? “Uh, is- is he here?” She swore to fucking god if this was another one of Steve’s kids. What was this now? Five? Oh well, she might as well humour the curly haired boy in front of her.

“Is who here?” Suddenly the red door to the back room was flung open and Steve rushed out, holding his hands into the air. A huge grin made its way onto his face

“Henderson.” The kid started laughing and Steve jumped up into the air. “Henderson!” Steve looked at Robin excitedly. Robin looked back at him with the same indifferent stare. “He’s back! He’s back!” He shouted and Robin wasn’t going to lie, she was concerned. 

“I’m back! You got the job!” Robin shifted her stare to the kid. She was confused. She hadn’t been this confused since Max and Lucas had first walked into the store. She really thought she’d seen it all; the mothering, the problem solving, the advice, but Steve jumping up in the air for joy at the sight of one of these kids isn’t one of those things she expected to see.

“I got the job!” Steve imitated a trumpet with his hands as he walked enthusiastically up to the kid and then they started… oh god, they had a handshake. Robin could not deal with this today. She stared on at them, were they… having a lightsaber fight? Robin could practically feel her eyebrows raise so high that they were almost at her hairline. She leaned forward on the counter.

“How many children are you friends with?” Steve stopped laughing, looked at her and sighed deeply, and gestured to her. “This is Robin, I work with her.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Robin said waving a hand at Steve. “We met. You’re Dustin Henderson.” The name did ring a bell, where had she heard it? Maybe one of the other kids had mentioned him.

“I am.” The three of them stood awkwardly for a couple of seconds before Steve broke the silence.

“Dustin! Do you want some ice cream? It’s on me.” 

“Yes, please! I’ll just go-” he gestured to the booths, “sit down.”

“Alright, I’ll join you in a sec!”

“Gotcha!” And with that, Dustin left the counter to go sit down in one of the booths near to the entrance.

“So…” Robin leaned over to Steve and bumped his shoulder. “I thought mothers’ weren’t supposed to have favourites.”

“Okay, first of all, Robin,” Steve started, getting Dustin’s ice cream ready. “I am not a ‘mother’-”

“Sure you aren’t.”

“I’m not! And second, Dustin’s not my favourite I’m just closest with him and he’s been away for a while.” Robin shrugged in a noncommittal way and Steve rolled his eyes, picking up the bowl of ice cream and making his way over to Dustin muttering to himself. “Mother, I’m not a mother, I’m more like a cool older sibling.” Robin shook her head and followed him out from behind the counter to start clearing tables.

“Do you really get to eat as much of this as you want?” She heard Dustin’s voice come from the booth as she was walking away from the table she was clearing. Steve answered immediately.

“Yeah. I mean, sure. It’s not really a good idea for me, though. You know, I gotta keep in shape for the ladies.”

Robin couldn’t help it.

“Yeah, and how’s that working out for you?” She called over.

“Ignore her,” Steve said, immediately and Robin snickered. Steve knew she was right and that’s why he was denying it.

“She seems cool,” Dustin's voice came from behind her. Nice, another one of Steve’s child friends liked her, she could definitely use this to her advantage.

“She’s not.” Came Steve’s voice, almost instantly and Robin resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him. “So, where are the other knuckleheads?” Yeah, Robin was wondering that too. If this kid had just got home, it was weird that the others wouldn’t be here with him. Before Robin could hear his answer, the bell rung at the counter.

“Shit,” Robin cursed, she’d have to ask Steve later. “Just a second!” She called out to the couple standing at the front of the parlour. She raced behind the counter, dumped the bowls and napkins on the bench and turned to them. “What can I do for you today?”

“Could I try the peppermint stick?” Said the woman.

“And could I get a sample of the raspberry sherbet?” The man asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Robin got two of the red sample spoons out of the small bucket they were kept in and dug it into both ice creams, getting a fairly generous amount on each one. She handed them to the couple, who were about to start eating them when a loud shout came from the booth where Dustin and Steve were.

“I intercepted a secret Russian communication!” The couple’s shoes squeaked as they both twisted around, as did the rest of the parlour. _What the actual fuck._ The entirety of Scoops Ahoy was silent for a few seconds and if Robin wasn’t confused before, she sure as hell was now. 

“Jeez, shhh…” Steve said, his voice getting too quiet for Robin to hear him. Okay, so Robin was definitely going to have a chat with Steve after this. She cleared her throat and the couple turned back to her as the rest of the people in the parlour went back to their conversations as if nothing had happened.

“So, um, what would you like?” The woman looked at her partner who nodded at her.

“We’ll have two single scoops, one of the peppermint and one of the raspberry.” The woman said and Robin sighed in relief. If they had asked for another sample… she doesn’t think she could have done that anyway.

“Have a nice day,” Robin said as she exchanged the two ice creams for money. After what felt like hours, Steve and Dustin walked up behind the counter and Robin hissed at them as they passed.

“This job is going to kill me.” Steve shot her a sympathetic smile as he walked into the back room. Robin groaned before turning back to the counter. “Hello, what can I get you today?”

* * *

Literally, the only thing keeping Robin alive at the moment was the loud conversation Dustin and Steve were having in the next room over. Sure, the wall muffled it a bit but if you strained your ears slightly you could hear them easily.

From what she had heard, Dustin had intercepted a message in Russian while trying to contact his Mormon girlfriend and recorded it and now they were trying to translate it because the Russians were ‘evil’ and a ‘threat to America’. In Robin’s opinion, they were jumping to conclusions. There were plenty of other scenarios that were more likely such as, it was a hoax or a prank, or maybe it was just two people talking to each other in Russian. There was no reason to believe that they were evil but if the boys wanted to be ‘American heroes’? Well, Robin wasn’t going to stop them, she found it amusing.

It was then that a group of tween girls walked into Scoops Ahoy and Robin groaned slamming her head into the bench in front of her. When the girls reached the front of the parlour, their leader, Robin thinks her name is ‘Erica’, stepped forward. “I would like to try the strawberry and cream ice cream, please.” The girl next to Erica whispered in her ear and she nodded seriously. “Make that five samples of the strawberry and cream, we would all like to try it.” Erica gave her a sickly sweet smile and Robin gave the girl a death glare before serving up the ice cream.

“Hmmm, what do you girls think?” Erica said thoughtfully.

“I don’t know, I’d have to try other flavours,” said the girl on the left.

“Yeah, I agree. Can we try the peppermint stick?” Robin sighed, already feeling her headache coming back. This was going to be a long day.

“Yeah, I’m not sure about this one either. Mint choc-chip?” Robin obliged unenthusiastically. “Mmm. Can I try the peppermint stick?”

“Haven’t you already tried the peppermint stick?” Robin said in a bored voice.

“Yes,” Erica said. “And I’d like to try it again.” Ok, that was it, Robin was not doing this anymore. She turned around.

“Steve!” When she got no answer she walked to the back room door, ignoring Erica’s annoyed “Hey! Where are you going?”. She barged into the room.

“Alright, babysitting time is over. You need to get in there.” Steve stumbled back towards Dustin, surprised at her sudden entrance and Robin was about to make a snarky comment when something caught her eye.

“Hey, my board!” She had paid good money to get that board and, “that was important data, shitbirds.”

“I guarantee you, what we’re doing is way more important than your data,” Dustin said seriously and Steve threw his banana peel on the table as if he was backing Dustin up. Oh yeah, the ‘evil Russians’ taking over the country, of course, that was _definitely_ more important than her ‘Steve Sucks’ board. 

“Yeah?” Robin said, and Dustin echoed her. “And how do you know these Russians are up to no good anyways?” Their faces were shocked and if Robin wasn’t so bored, angry, and had this motherfucking headache she would’ve laughed.

“How does she know about the Russians?” Dustin whispered to Steve.

“I don’t know,” Steve said, his mouth still full of banana.

“You told her about the Russians?”

“It wasn’t me.” Robin resisted the urge to scoff, did they really think she couldn’t hear them?

“Hello, I can hear you,” Robin voiced her thoughts. “Actually I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud. You think you have evil Russians plotting against our country, on tape, and you’re trying to translate, but haven’t figured out a single word because you didn’t realise Russians use an entirely different alphabet than we do. Sound about right?” Steve and Dustin exchanged shocked looks. God, they were idiots. Robin lunged forward but Steve intercepted her.

“Whoa! What do you think you’re doing?”

“I wanna hear it.”

“Why?” They both said.

“‘Cause maybe I can help. I’m fluent in four languages you know.”

“Russian?” Dustin asked hopefully. Well now, Robin couldn’t disappoint an expectant face like that, could she? She smirked.

“Ouyay areyay umbday.” The both of them laughed excitedly.

“Holy shit,” said Dustin, smiling widely and Robin sighed. What she had just said was the truth.

“That was Pig Latin, dingus.” Steve slapped Dustin. They really didn’t have time for this. “But I can speak Spanish and French and Italian and I’ve been in band for twelve years.” She walked over to them and sat down in the chair and looked at them apprehensively. “My ears are little geniuses, trust me.”

“Uhh…” Steve said, doubtingly and Robin couldn’t lie. That hurt a little.

“Come on, it’s your turn to sling ice cream, my turn to translate. I- I don’t even want credit. I’m just bored.” She slid her arm across the table and looked at Steve. Please let him trust her on this. Steve sighed and took the scooper and gave her the recorded message. She smiled gratefully at him.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve said. “You better translate it, though.” He said, waving the ice cream scoop menacingly as he backed his way out the door.

“Well, you heard the man, short stack. Let’s get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, the next chapter is El and i was originally going to have a little departure from canon and have Robin greet Max in that scene when she tells Steve that they have the first sentence translated but i was thinking maybe i could do a two part sort of thing in the next chapter? maybe have that bit and then have the bit where Robin meets El again except with the ~powers~ this time. what do you guys think? just let me know in the comments so i know what to do!
> 
> please leave kudos and, if you feel like it, other comments as well but the main thing is THE MESSAGE ABOVE


	6. El (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first time Robin meets El. It isn't too grand or anything I just bent canon a bit.  
> Feat. Dustin and Max for a little bit :)
> 
> Also, this is Part 1 so there will be a Part 2 which will feature El's ~powers~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO POST. i've been having really bad headaches for the past couple of weeks so it made it hard to actually write considering every time i looked at my laptop screen my head felt like it was going to split open. 
> 
> i was originally going to do part 1&2 of El in one chapter but i decided better to get out 1 part then nothing since i don't know if my headaches will get super bad again.
> 
> AGAIN SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. IT'S HERE NOW. TAKE IT. READ IT. AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

Robin paced back and forth in front of the table where Dustin was sitting holding the recorder. They had been at this for… well, Robin wasn’t exactly timing them but it felt like hours. It probably wasn’t. At least it was more interesting than scooping ice cream. Robin listened intently to the Russian speaking man on the device. He was saying  _ dly-nna- something.  _ God, what was that?

“Wait, that last part, uh, one more time.”

“Okay,” Dustin said, rewinding the recording and the man continued to speak. There it was!

“Okay, that word. Um...” She moved her hand subconsciously. “It’s pronounced… ‘dly-nna-ya’.”

“Dly-nna-ya,” Dustin echoed, smiling slightly in excitement.

“Yeah, which is spelt...” She looked at Dustin, still motioning with her hand.

Dustin took the hit and jumped out of the white chair and made his way over to the board.

“D… D, D, D…” He walked to the board and scanned it as Robin took his place at the “The- The chair! The chair looking thingy!”

“Yeah, okay,” Robin said, scribbling out the Russian letter on the paper. Holy shit, they were actually doing this. “What’s next?”

“Umm…” Dustin said, running his forefinger just over the Russian alphabet. “The one that kind of looks like a backwards pi.” Robin looked up at the symbol Dustin was pointing at and scrawling it out. They continued like this until they had the whole word written out.

“Okay, pass me the translation book,” Robin said as Dustin sat down opposite her. He slid the book across the table and she opened it up. “So if we look for the start of the word…” She flipped through the dictionary and ran her finger along the page. “Aha!”

“What? Did you find it?” Dustin said, his eyes lighting up.

“Sure did, short stack!” Robin said gleefully. “It means ‘long’.” Dustin took the pencil and paper and wrote out the word next to the rest of the English words. 

“Robin!” Dustin said, standing up quickly and knocking over his chair in the process. “We got a sentence!” Robin shot up and fast walked around to him, looking over his shoulder at the writing on the slightly scrunched paper.

“The week is long,” Dustin said, looking up at Robin. “What do you think it means?” It meant that whoever sent this message really understood how it felt to work in an ice cream shop. Instead of saying this Robin just shrugged.

“I have no clue, short stack.”

“We should tell Steve what we’ve cracked,” Dustin said, bending down and picking up the chair.

“Yeah, alright.” Robin made her way across the screen and flung it open.”We got our first sentence,” she said to Steve’s turned back. He turned around, momentarily forgetting about the two ice creams he was holding in his hands.

“Oh, seriously?” He said making his way over and Robin was about to tell him to serve the rapidly melting ice cream to their customers first but a familiar mop of red hair stopped her in her tracks.

“Max? Is that you?”

“Oh, hey Robin!” The girl said smiling and Robin leaned out further to get a look, there was another girl beside her with wavy brown hair wearing a colourful jumpsuit. Robin raised an eye at Max and her coworker as if questioning who she was looking at. “This is El.” Robin nodded, she remembered that name being thrown around every now and again. Mike’s girlfriend, maybe. The girl stared at her before saying quietly in chunky english.

“It’s nice… to meet… you.”

“Likewise,” Robin said, nodding again. Steve seemed to sense the awkwardness, it was either that or the ice cream had started to drip down, because he made his way towards the girls, handing them their ice cream.

“Okay, here you go, you got a strawberry and a vanilla with sprinkles, extra whipped cream.”

“Thanks,” they both said and immediately started eating them.

“Wait a second,” Robin saw Steve’s brow furrow as if he was only just now putting something together. He looked at El. “Are you even allowed to be here?” The two girls looked at each other, matching grins appearing on their faces before they burst into laughter and ran off. 

“That… okay.”

“You’re not even going to try and stop them,” Robin said as Steve turned, making his way towards her.

“It’s pointless. I’m giving up, I will no longer be a babysitter.” He bowed his head and sighed and Robin looked at him, amused.

“Aw, Stevie, don’t give up now! I thought you were a cool older brother!” Steve groaned and flipped her the bird, not bothering to look up. “Did you forget that your favourite child and I had translated one sentence in Russian already?” Steve’s head shot up and he looked at her.

“Oh yeah! What did it say? Also, can you  _ stop _ calling him that?”

  
  


“‘The week is long’.” She said in a Russian accent, completely ignoring the rest of Steve’s question.

“Well that’s thrilling,” Steve said sarcastically and personally, Robin agreed.

“I know,” she said. “But, progress!” She shut the window on him and only just heard him sigh and go back to serving the customers. Robin turned to Dustin. “Alright, short stack. What have you got for me?” Dustin sighed at the nickname but smiled nonetheless and beckoned her over to sit down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this is a bit shorter than usual... and disclaimer: i know nothing about russian, anything to do with russian was based solely on canon and google translate so if there's anything wrong i apologise! i did try to keep it as vague as possible...  
> thank you for reading :) comment and kudos if you feel like it and have a nice day/night


	7. El (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin meets El but this time with the powers(TM)
> 
> This is pretty much canon from Robin's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so... contrary to popular belief: i do like Nancy! it's just that i think that Robin would not hesitate to throw hands with her because she broke her bestie's heart.
> 
> and i'm sorry this took so long to post! thank you for waiting, it's here now.

If Robin thought she was having a bad time a couple of days ago she couldn’t even comprehend what the  _ fuck _ this was. A strange child had shown up to see Steve- Alright that wasn’t that strange considering it happened almost every day but after that, the kid had declared he had ‘evil Russians’ on tape and, much to Robin’s shock, he was right. 

Then she had broken into the evil Russians’ lab with the bane of her existence Erica, who had been scamming samples out of her for almost the whole summer, her co-worker, and her co-worker's favourite child. They had then proceeded to get stuck in a Russian elevator with nothing more than boxes full of weird, green, acidic goo and once they had finally gotten out of there, she and Steve had gotten captured by the evil Russians. So yeah, what the fuck. And that wasn’t even the whole of it!

The Russians had drugged them, short stack and bane of Robin’s existence had saved them and snuck them into a weird-ass movie involving time travel and someone trying to fuck their son. Which again, what the fuck. After the movie had finished, at least Robin had thought it was finished, maybe it hadn’t, they had gone outside of the cinema and there were these weird lights that were spinning around and made her and Steve throw up in the bathroom.

In this bathroom, Steve had confessed his feelings to her and those pesky drugs still being partly in her system meant she had no filter, which meant that she had let him down easily but she had also told him the secret which she had never told anybody. She had told Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington, former king (read: asshole) of the school, dingus and former douchebag, her secret. And it hadn’t gone bad. What the fuck.

And now they were sneaking back into the crowd of moviegoers leaving the mall! So yeah. What the fuck was pretty much on loop in Robin’s brain right now but you can’t blame her. 

“Well, shit, that worked,” Erica said, turning to an obviously relieved Dustin.

“Course it worked. Now we just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes and home sweet home,” Dustin said, looking straight ahead. Robin shot Steve a look, one memory, in particular, rising to the top of the swirl of drugged memories she had of the Russian base.

“Uh, Dustin?” Steve said, lowly.

“What?” Dustin looked back at them for the first time since they had snuck into the crowd.

“Yeah, we might not wanna go to your house.”

“Why?”

“Well, I might’ve told them your full name.”

Dustin did a double-take.

“What is wrong with you?” He squeaked out and Robin would’ve laughed at how high his voice was if something hadn’t caught her eye.

“Dude, I was drugged.” A man dressed in all black was standing near the exit.

“So?” He had shoulder-length black hair.

“So?” Steve dragged out the word incredulously. The hair was tied back in a ponytail.

“So, you resit. You tough it out. You tough it out like a man.” Did that guy have a Russian accent?

“Oh, yeah, it’s easy for you to say.” Shit.

“Guys,” Robin said quietly, putting out a hand to stop Dustin and the rest of the group looked at the man.

“Abort,” Dustin said. The man looked straight at them. “Abort. Abort.” Robin couldn’t agree more. She started running, looking behind to see if the rest of them were following her. They weaved through the thinning crowd until they reached the escalator which- shit- closed for the night.

“Shit,” Robin hissed out at the same time Steve yelled out.

“Go!”

“Okay,” Robin whispered to herself, she could do this. She climbed between the escalators and slid down the metal.

“Come on, let’s go, let’s go.” She heard Steve whisper shout urgently behind her. She was on the next level in a matter of seconds and running.

“This way!” She yelled out over her shoulder, sprinting to a counter and sliding over it, pushing her back against the cold plastic. In a moment the others were beside her breathing heavily. They could hear the Russians near them, muttering something and the click of a gun. Robin closed her eyes and held her breath. There was a slight squeak and Robin’s eyes snapped open. She looked at the rest of them and saw the same terrified expression mirrored on each of their faces. They could hear footsteps and Robin squeezed her eyes shut again. This was how she was going to die. Not in a Russian base with Steve but here, in the mall with a fucking ten-year-old. A  _ ten-year-old. _ Fuck.

Then a car alarm sounded, loudly, causing all four of them to jump and Dustin to let out a half gasp half whimper. The car continued to honk and wail and they could hear the Russians turn towards it but none of them dared to move. After what felt like hours there was a loud crash and the sound of several groans. Nervously, the four of them rose up and what Robin saw hit like a car. Pun intended.

There was a car, crashed into the neighbouring store, the glass from the windows smashed and scattered across the ground. The Russians that had been chasing them lay on the ground. Dark red blood was seeping out from underneath one’s head, he wasn’t going to get up and the rest weren’t either.

Dustin turned around and Robin followed his gaze staring up at the next floor where a girl stood. Five other people walked up to the banister leaning over it to get a better look. Wait a second. That was Will. And Mike. And Lucas and Max and the girl from before and… what the fuck. Was that Nancy Wheeler? Robin couldn’t tear her gaze away from the group as they started to move towards the escalator.

Dustin was the first to move, followed closely by Steve, both of them pushing past Robin and Erica, and jogging towards the group. They both huge grins on their faces. Why, Robin couldn’t fathom. Sure, they were just saved but they had also just witnessed the deaths of Russians who had previously captured drugged her and Steve and chased the four of them through a mall. So yeah. Not a grinning moment in Robin’s opinion.

Erica grabbed Robin’s sleeve, drawing her out of her trance.

“Come on, nerd. We can’t just stay here.”

Robin rolled her eyes but followed her, both of them quickly catching up with Dustin and Steve. Dustin sped up, sprinting towards the other group laughing all the while. The adrenaline apparently hadn’t worn off yet.

“You flung that thing like a hot wheel!” He said, running into Mike and the girl, wrapping them up in a hug. Robin knew that girl, she’d come into Scoops Ahoy with Max before all this crazy shit had gone off the rails.

“Lucas?” Came Erica’s astonished voice from her left. 

“What are you doing here?” Okay so apparently everyone knew each other. Okay.

“Ask them it’s their fault.”

“True, yeah. Totally true. It’s absolutely our fault.” Robin looked at Steve, how was nobody else shocked? She looked at the car and then back at the group

“I don’t understand what happened with that car,” she said breathlessly.

“El has superpowers,” Dustin said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“I’m sorry?”

“Superpowers. She threw it with her mind. C’mon, catch up,” Steve said and Robin looked at him in astonishment and was about to bite out a retort when Erica spoke up, pointing at the girl.

“That’s El?”

“Who’s El?” Robin knew who El was but she also had no clue who the actual fuck El was.

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Oh, Robin knew who this girl was. Nancy Wheeler. The girl who broke Steve’s heart. Well, tore it up, threw it to the ground and stomped on it. Steve must have sensed that she was about to serve this girl what she deserved because he caught her eye and shook his head minutely.

“I’m Robin,” she bit out. “I work with Steve.”

“She cracked the top secret code,” Dustin said.

“Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place,” Steve continued and Robin couldn’t help but let a smirk make its way onto her face at the shocked faces around her.

“Russians? Wait, what Russians?” Said the boy next to Nancy. Jonathan Byers? It honestly could be Robin would not be surprised.

“The Russians!” Steve said, gesturing to the men around them.

“Those were Russians?” Max said.

“Some of them,” Erica said like it was obvious.

“What are you talking about?” Lucas said.

“Didn’t you hear our code red?”

“Yeah, and I couldn’t understand half of what you were saying,” Mike said.

“Goddamn low battery,” Dustin cursed out.

  
“How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?” Steve said, whacking his hand on his other and Robin rolled her eyes again. Was this really the time to be a mother, Steve? Really?

“Yeah, well, everything worked out, didn’t it, Steve,” Dustin retorted.

“Worked out? We almost died.” Robin had to agree with Erica.

“Yeah, but we didn’t, did we?” Robin narrowed her eyes, as the girl, El who apparently had superpowers, limped away from the group. That was weird.

“It was pretty damn close.”

“Okay, Russians? As in, they’re working for the Russian government?” Robin moved to follow the girl, nobody noticing as they kept talking.

“What are you not comprehending?” Robin heard El take a deep, pained breath. “Am I not speaking English?”

“Hey, kid, are you okay?” Robin moved closer to the girl but she didn’t answer.

“We have a full-blown  _ Red Dawn  _ situation.”

“So this has nothing to do with the gate?”

“It has  _ everything _ to do with the gate!” El whimpered and scrunched her eyes up, putting her hands in her ears.

“Hey, El,” Robin said, quietly trying not to startle her. She grunted and dropped to the ground, groaning. Immediately the whole group turned around, Mike bolting forward and pushing past her.

“El! El!”

“What’s wrong with her?” Erica said as Robin moved back.    
  


“What’s wrong, what’s wrong?” The voices overlapped.

“My leg. My leg.” El whined, her eyes scrunched and her voice shakey from the pain.

“Her leg, her leg. Okay.” Maybe Jonathan Byers said. El continued to pant and whimper as Will and Nancy pulled the makeshift bandage Her leg was covered in dry blood and there was a glowing thing moving under the skin where a cut once was. They all exclaimed in various degrees of horror and disgust. The thing inside El moved violently and she started to wriggle and groan more intensely. 

“El! El!” Mike went crawled over to her head and Robin wanted to move forward, to help but she was frozen in shock and horror. “El! El, are you okay? El! El!” The writhing girl let out a scream over anguish and stared to sob but Robin was frozen on the spot. The flesh sizzled. 

“What is that?”

“There’s something in there.” Robin felt like yelling out ‘yeah, no shit’ but she couldn’t.

“Jesus Christ.”

“Keep her talking, keep her awake, okay?” Probably Jonathan Byers said, jumping up and running away. 

“Jesus Christ,” Dustin repeated.

“Okay, we gotta keep her awake,” Max mumbled under her breath.

“Hey, hey,hey. Stay awake, stay awake,” Mike said, hands on either of her shoulders. “Let’s get her on this side, get her on this side.” They moved El so that she was on her side and Robin let out a shaky breath.

“Easy, easy, easy, easy.”

“It’s uh,” Robin stuttered, her voice quivering dangerously. “It’s- you know, it’s- it’s not actually that bad. There was a… the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this girl slid into her leg, and, like, the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane.”

“Robin.” She didn’t look at Steve, her eyes fixed on the injured leg in front of her.

“Yeah?” She was rambling, she knew she was rambling.

“You’re not helping.”

“I’m sorry,” Robin said, god, this was- she had no clue what this was she should just keep her mouth shut. Running footsteps sounded and Jonathan Byers slid to his knees at El’s feet.

“Okay. Alright, El?” He paused and looked the girl in the eye. “This is gonna hurt like hell, okay.”

“Okay,” El sobbed out and Robin flinched but remained silent.

“Need you to stay real still. Here, you’re going to want to bite down on this, okay?” Jonathan held out a wooden spoon and Mike took it and put it in El’s mouth.

“Jesus Christ,” Dustin muttered. Jonathan took out a knife and Robin felt her heart leap up into her throat “Holy shit, holy shit.” Jonathan hesitated, looking around at the group.

“Do it,” Mike said and Jonathan looked back down at the leg.

“Okay,” Jonathan breathed out, his face scrunched up in determination and worry. He lined up the knife with the writhing leg and Eleven screamed in agony as the knife dug into her skin. Robin felt like she was going to vomit, everything went blurry as she stared at the pain-ridden face of the girl in front of her. Eleven screamed more and Robin felt like turning away but she couldn’t.

“No!” El screamed and spat out the spoon. “Stop it! Stop! Stop!” Jonathan stopped and leaned back. “I can do it.” She said through sobs. “I can do it.” She propped herself up against Mike and panted, holding her hand over the wound. El wailed and Robin felt her arms tighten around her as she stared at the leg which was writhing more violently. She screamed and screamed and Robin had never felt this helpless in her life.

Suddenly the glass behind them cracked and fell causing everyone to shriek and flinch back and stare at it. Everyone but El. Something was coming out of her leg and Robin stared in horror as El threw it across the room without touching it. Robin was so focused on the… thing that she didn’t notice that three other people had entered the mall.

What. The. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO I'M GOING TO TRY TO CHURN OUT AN EPILOGUE BECAUSE THIS SEEMS REALLY UNFINISHED SO STAY POSTED THAT SHOULD HOPEFULLY BE OUT SOON! AS IN I'M GOING TO TRY AND WRITE THAT NOW!
> 
> if you feel like it give this a comment or kudos, it makes me feel validated <3


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everything, Steve and Robin work in a video store. Unfortunately, the change of venue does not mean any less children.
> 
> Feat. the beautiful, loving, platonic friendship between Robin and Steve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter!!!! Thank you all for reading, seriously. I hope you enjoy the conclusion!!!

Robin was honestly surprised that she had been able to get back into the original swing of life after everything that happened. She had a job, she had an income, she had a chance to see cute girls, she had a Steve who would still crash and burn whenever he tried to get with said cute girls…

She also got the chance to see Steve’s strange child friends who she supposed were also her strange child friends. They showed up at the movie store every now and then with problems or just to hang out. Thankfully the problems were not supernatural, Robin had had enough of those for a lifetime. 

Sure, it sucked that the Byers and Eleven had left. Even though Robin had only met Will last summer, it was enough time for them to get close enough that once he left, Hawkins wasn’t the same. Sure, she had to live with the knowledge that Russians had once performed experiments in Hawkins, she had to live with the knowledge that the supernatural actually existed. But, she was lucky in the fact that she was able to get a job and get back to her life. And there was the added bonus that the kids actually talked to her as well as Steve now. Whether that was a good thing or not was debatable though.

Robin sighed and rested her head against the counter and Steve looked at her from where he was crouched in front of the shelf closest to the counter. 

“You alright, Rob?”

“Yeah, fine, just bored as hell.” She groaned, lifting her head up from the counter. Steve hummed in agreement before going back to the movies he was sorting. “Can we swap jobs, I feel like if I spend another minute without doing something I’m going to combust.” Steve shot her an unimpressed look.

“You know if I’m not doing what I’m supposed to, Keith will fire my ass on the spot. He does not like me.” Steve said the last part in a tone that indicated he was actually surprised.

“Well, to be fair, you were kind of a dick before,” Robin gestured wildly, hoping to indicate all the supernatural shit he’d been a part of. “You know. It’s not his fault he doesn’t know that you’re actually a softie.” He flipped her the bird and she snickered. 

At that moment, the bell at the front of the store rang indicating that someone had come in and Robin could actually cheer. As much as she loved having a slow flow of customers, there was only so much of nothing one could do. The girl who walked in was, Robin was not going to lie, cute. She was wearing a sleeveless navy blue shirt tucked into a long light orange skirt. Her wavy blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail with a scrunchie.

“Ooo, she’s cute.” Steve apparently agreed with her, as he had stood up and walked over to her and was now sending her meaningful looks.

“Yeah, she is,” Robin said, staring Steve down. There was another thing that had come out of last summer. Steve had found out her big secret and now he was certain he could play wingman to her. Which, no. The girl made her way up to the front counter.

“Hey, would one of you be able to show me where the drama/romance films are?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m busy with sorting out these movies,” he pointed at the box over his shoulder. “But, I’m sure my co-worker can help you out, can’t you, Robin.”

“Yeah, right this way,” Robin said, beckoning to the girl. “Fuck you, Harrington,” she hissed under her breath as she passed him.

“Love ya too, Robin,” he whispered back, giving her a not so subtle thumbs up. She shook her head as she led the girl to the area where those films were. “Um, yeah. These films are mainly drama and the ones over here,” she turned around to the shelf behind them. “Are romance. I actually love drama films, don’t watch much romance though.” Oh god, she’s rambling. This is all Steve’s fault. “Um, is there anything else you need?” The girl giggled, actually giggled. It was a cute giggle too. Robin needed to get out of there.

“No, thank you.” She said, smiling. “I’ll let you know if I need anything though.” Robin nodded and turned away, already feeling the blush rise to her cheeks. God damn cute girls getting past her calm and collected exterior. As soon as she got back to the counter she slammed her head into it causing Steve to laugh heartily.

“Fuck you,” Robin moaned into the counter. “I actually hate you, you dingus.”

“I’m wounded, Robbie,” Steve said, putting a hand to his chest in mock pain.

“Never,” Robin said, shooting up. “Call me that again.” Steve raised his hands in surrender.

“Alright, alright, touchy,” he said, turning back to his sorting. It took Robin a few minutes to collect herself, thankfully she had before the girl got back.

“I’ll take these, please.” She said, placing two films on the counter.

“Sure, you got it.” Robin went through the whole process, acutely aware of Steve’s gaze on her. She was sure he was sporting a grin and she did not appreciate that. “Have a nice day,” Robin said, handing the bag to the girl.

“Thanks, see you!” She said, accepting the bag and walking out of the shop. Robin turned around and buried her head in her hands as soon as she was sure the girl was out of sight. Steve started laughing again and Robin groaned.

“You know,” said Steve, pausing and looking over at her. “I think I remember her from school, what was her name? Kathrine? Kathlene? Maybe it was just Kathy.”

“I hate you. I hate you so much.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Actually I do, you absolute ass-” Robin was interrupted by the dinging sound of the bell. “This is not over, dingus.”

“What’s not over?” Came a familiar voice and Steve perked up.

“Dustin!” He jumped up and walked over to the boy, doing their weird handshake. How they came up with that was beyond Robin.

“What are we, chopped liver?” Came another voice and Robin turned to see Max, Lucas, Mike, and surprisingly Nancy. They all looked happy. Well, happier than normal. She squinted at them.

“Alright, what’s up? You’re never this happy,” Robin said. 

“Actually,” Mike said. “We do have a surprise for you.”

“Right, a surprise,” Robin said, unimpressed and Mike nodded his head. “Could this have waited until after our shift was over?”

“Well, it could’ve,” Mike started. “But we didn’t think you would want it to.”

“Well, where is this surprise?” Steve asked, making his way over to the group with Dustin.

“Oh, it’s outside.” Mike shot them a cheeky grin. “Would you like us to bring it in?”

“You know what? I’m pretty sure nothing could surprise me now. If it’s not supernatural, I’m fine.” That earned a laugh from the group and Mike turned around to go outside the store. Outside the store? What was the point of keeping it outside… unless it was something huge that would be hard to get through the door? Or maybe just less inconspicuous? Robin was confused, no doubt about it. Steve bumped his shoulder bringing Robin out of her thoughts.

“What do you think it is?”

“You want my honest answer?” Steve nodded at her. “I have no fucking clue.”

“Alright close your eyes!” Max shouted and the two flinched and glared at her. Max grinned back sheepishly. “Sorry for startling you but close your goddamn eyes.”

“Jeez, okay,” Steve said, closing his eyes. Robin shot Max another scathing look but complied. Though she couldn’t see, Robin’s ears were still in perfect working order and what she heard wasn’t that shocking for a surprise: hushed whispers, a couple of giggles and a great deal of shuffling. As Robin was straining her ears something else happened. Something stroked her arm and her eyes snapped open as she recoiled back into the counter. 

At the same time a shriek of, “ow! What the everloving-” could be heard next to her. Robin blinked, her eyes adjusting to the light and looked down in front of her to see a boy in front of her, smiling broadly.

“Will?” The boy started laughing and Robin wrapped the boy up in the hug. Her reputation be damned. “Holy shit! It is you!”

“Hey, Rob! I missed you too.” Will pulled back from her only to be engulfed in another hug from Steve who had just finished embracing Jonathan. The whole group burst into laughter and the next hour of Steve and Robin’s shift was spent chatting, hugging, and catching up and for the first time in ages, Robin felt like she belonged. Like she was happy. At home. That is until they left and Steve bumped into her. 

“What about that Kathy girl, though?” Robin shoved her friend so hard that he fell over.

“Stop trying to wingman me, dingus, not gonna happen.”

“Yeah, yeah, love you too.” Steve seemed to realise what he said because he blushed red. Robin just stared at him for a moment before smiling at him, her best friend.

“I love you too, dingus. No matter how many weird children you decide to adopt.”

* * *

this is [my tumblr](https://hobbitinthetardis.tumblr.com/) if any of you want to scream/talk to me or if you're just interested :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR READING! i've really enjoyed writing this fic and loved all the love it has gotten. i hope you guys had as much of a great time reading it as i had writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> please leave comments and kudos if you like it so far. i crave feedback and validation


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